Hīn is interpreted in four ways:
1. The word hīn is used in the sense of 'year', as in the following verse:
By the permission of their Lord, it gives its fruit every hīn (that is, every year by the command of its Lord). (Ibrāhīm 14:25)
2. Hīn is used in the sense of the end of appointed terms or deadlines, as in the following verses:
For you (that is, for Adam and Eve) on the earth is a dwelling place and enjoyment for a hīn (that is, until the end of your appointed terms). (al-Baqara 2:36)
A similar example is also found in Sūrat al-Aʿrāf.
And We gave them enjoyment for a hīn (that is, until the end of their appointed terms). (Yūnus 10:98)
For a hīn, a provision (that is, garments, bedding, carpets, etc., until the time they wear out) and enjoyment... (al-Naḥl 16:80)
3. Hīn is used in the sense of 'hours, times, moments', as in the following verses:
Exalt Allah when you reach the evening [hīn] (that is, at sunset) and when you reach the morning [hīn] (that is, when you reach the morning, by performing the morning prayer) (...) and at the end of the day (that is, at the time of the afternoon prayer) and when you reach noon [hīn] (that is, by performing the noon prayer at its earliest time). (al-Rūm 30:17-18)
By the phrase hine tuzhirūna, the 'first noon prayer' is intended.
4. Hīn is used in the sense of an indeterminate time without a specific limit, as in the following verses:
You will surely know its news after a hīn (that is, after a time—the reference is to the idolaters being killed at Badr, but the exact time is not specified in the verse). (Ṣād 38:88)
Has there [not] come upon man a hīn from dehr (that is, a period from dehr—which means a duration or era of time)? (al-Insān 76:1)